Baseball Hitting Tips—you Better Get To Know The Opposing Pitcher Very Quickly!

If you don’t know anything about an opposing pitcher, there are certain important things to watch and you may possibly get to know a lot about him very quickly.

Pay attention to what he does well and what he does not do well.

You may know this before he takes the mound that day and if not, you can certainly learn much about him by watching him for an inning or so.

Sometimes you can learn a lot after only one batter.

Good pitchers will stay awake at night trying to figure out how to get good hitters out.

Just like the pitcher is looking for your strengths and weaknesses as a hitter, you too better be looking for his strengths and weaknesses!

Pitchers at higher levels of play use pitching charts to get to know tendencies that baseball hitters have. Why can’t you, as a hitter, at least keep a mental chart of the pitcher’s tendencies?

Some Very Important Things You Should Be Looking For:

*Look for where his release point is. Quite often pitchers have different release points for different pitches and you may know what pitch he’s throwing beforehand.

*Time his pitches with your swing. You should have a very good idea as to how fast the pitcher is before you actually face him.

*Is the pitcher always throwing a first pitch fast ball all the time?

*Does he lean back more toward second base to get some extra speed on his fast ball?

*Does he slow down his windup at the last second when he’s throwing a change up?

*On the other hand, does he speed up his windup too much when throwing a change up because he is trying too hard to disguise it?

*Does he always throw the curve ball with 2 strikes?

*Is the first pitch to each batter an easy pitch to hit?

**Is the pitcher always throwing a breaking ball after he shakes off his catcher’s signal? (This tells you the catcher is not ever putting down the breaking ball as his first signal and then when the pitcher shakes off the catcher, you know the pitch will be his breaking ball)

*Does the pitcher raise his front shoulder
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excessively when throwing the fastball to try to throw it faster?

*Is he always pitching low and away and not using both sides of the plate by occasionally coming inside?

*Does he drop his arm slot down a little to get more lateral movement on his breaking ball?

You’ve just read a dozen things to observe and I’m sure you can come up with many more.

If you’re serious about baseball hitting, you have to be thinking all the time.

While on the bench, sit next to a very good hitter and talk about the opposing pitcher throughout the game.

Baseball hitting is tough so try to get every possible advantage.

Of the hundreds of baseball hitting tips you may hear about, this one requires a baseball hitter to simply observe what the pitcher is or is not doing.

Remember, the pitcher is thinking of anything and everything he can do to get you out.

As a baseball hitter, you should be thinking of anything and everything you can do to have a successful at bat.

You will be very pleased with yourself if you have observed that the pitcher has started five straight hitters off with a first pitch fast ball and you get up, see a first pitch fast ball, and hit a seed into one of the gaps!

Even if you do not know anything at all about a pitcher, you can learn his strengths, weaknesses and overall tendencies very quickly.

Beating the pitcher requires clever use of your mind as well as your body.

One of the better baseball hitting tips is that all the outstanding baseball hitters are constantly thinking.

The pitcher is using both his brain and his arm to beat you and you must do the same if you truly want to be a successful baseball hitter.

By: Larry Cicchiello

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Larry Cicchiello is the author of “Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away.” Baseball coaches, players and baseball parents who want to help your child will benefit. Larry is comfortable sharing some FREE baseball tips on hitting and pitching from his eBooks, which cover 320 baseball topics.www.LarryBaseball.com/product/all

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Back with more news for you today. It’s amazing how much good information there is on this stuff out there if you know where to look. Three in particular that I found really valuable were…

Youth Baseball Hitting – How to Fix Your Baseball Swing

Wrapping the bat and Dropping the hands is usually the youth baseball player trying to hit a hard fly ball. It lengthens the swing and there will difficulty in hitting the ball correctly(popups) if at all, in live pitching. …

Baseball Tips on Hitting – Problem Swinging Late at Pitches

Remember, one of the best baseball hitting tips you will ever hear is to keep the front elbow pointing down at the very start of your swing and the swing levels out only at the point of contact! Larry is the president of Larwenty Online …

Baseball Training – Batter’s Edge for Balance

The Batter’s Edge is the greatest technological advancement in baseball training equipment in over 30 years. The reason is simple – the Batter’s Edge is a baseball batting training device that teaches balance and control when hitting a …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

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The Major League baseball swing is a thing of beauty. The dream of millions of little league baseball players is to become a major league baseball player. Hitting a major league home run is a fantasy baseball dream of every youth baseball player. How do the major league baseball players hit with such power? What makes their swing so powerful, productive, and perfect?

The smoothness, compactness, and timing of the professional baseball swing make it one of the most graceful things to watch in all of sports. Professional players practice and practice the fundamentals of the perfect baseball swing. If you watch it in slow motion, you will see that there are 3 common elements of the swing that that most major league baseball players have in common. Baseball batting practice repetition makes the Major League Baseball Swing consistent with the same 3 basic elements exhibited with every swing of the bat.

Great hitters always have the following swing qualities:

1. Solid and Stiff Front Leg

2. Rotational Swing allowing them to Stay Over Stack

3. Maximum Extension of the Hands and Barrel

Here I will discuss each of these 3 elements of the Major League baseball swing:

1. STIFF FRONT LEG

The power hitters in major league baseball use a stiff front leg to give them leverage for their power. When you study their swing, the front leg is firm and at an angle that allows them to stop all body movement forward. The front foot is the anchor that prevents lunging and hip travel forward. Maximum power is generated when the arms are extended and the hips rotate. If the front leg bends power is lost.

Coaching Point: A stiff and firm front leg requires the hitter to have the timing and patience to allow the baseball to get inside the front foot before attacking the baseball. Maximum power is generated when the lower body, hips, and torso spin to generate bat speed. The tendency to lunge at the ball must be avoided.

2. STAYING BALANCED AND OVER STACK

This is a term that refers to the spinning motion of a batters body and the process of keeping the head and torso perfect aligned over the back leg during the swing. The head does not move, travel or lunge forward during the swing. The perfect swing is a rotational motion with the body staying back and spinning over the back hip.

Coaching Point: Head travel is a no-no. If the head is moving forward then the batter has too much forward movement. The body must stop all forward movement and spin like a top. This rotational hitting motion generates maximum bat speed and power. A great tool for teaching and training young and advanced hitters this skill is the STAY BACK TEE and HandsBackHitter Trainer by Swing Buster. This innovative tool is a great baseball training aid that forces the batter to keep the correct front leg position during the swing. The STAY BACK BATTING TEE will teach the batter to have a stiff front leg and to stay over stack through the swing.

3. GETTING MAXIMUM EXTENSION THROUGH THE BALL

What this means is that when the bat makes contact with the ball, the hitters drive the hands and barrel of the bat through forward as long as they can to prolong the bat to ball contact. They power-drive the moving the hands forward on a level plane as long as possible. This down and through motion of the hands is like the landing of an airplane. The bat travels quickly and compactly to the ball on what is commonly called an A to C swing. But, once contact is made with the ball great hitters have the ability to drive the hands and barrel forward on a level plane to generate and maintain bat barrel to ball contact. The longer the barrel stays in contact with the ball, the more force will be exerted on the ball.

Visit the Baseball Coaching Digest Blog for daily post and articles on every aspect of coaching baseball. The Baseball Coaching Digest Blog. Check out the Bat Action Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.

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Baseball Hitting Tips For Your Success!

Not all baseball hitting tips are etched in stone but here are several very good guidelines to follow:

*A Balanced And Workable Stance:

All good athletes are balanced almost all the time.
It gives you a solid, comfortable foundation, which is where hitting begins. Some very good baseball hitters find it useful to have a little body movement while in their batting stance. They may rock a little back and forth which they find relaxing. It’s almost impossible to have your muscles tighten and tense up when your muscles are moving. You can then be quicker and shift your weight much better than someone who is just standing there like a statue. It’s identical to a goalie in hockey. If he stands up straight like a statue, what chance will he have to move freely to make a save on a slap shot that’s traveling close to 100 mile per hour? What chance will a tennis player have waiting for a serve in excess of 100 miles per hour? None of them will have a good chance and neither will a baseball hitter.

*Striding With The Front Toes Slightly Closed:

If your toes are slightly closed, it encourages you to keep your front hip and front shoulder closed as well.
In other words, instead of having the toes pointing straight out away from your body when you take your stride turn them an inch or two inward, back toward your body.
If you point the front toes out toward the pitcher, it will encourage you to open your front side too early which will create many baseball hitting problems.

*Have The Bat Fully Loaded When the Stride Foot Touches the Ground:

All the real good baseball hitters have the bat in the launching position when their front foot completes the stride. It’s the moment of truth.

*You Stride And Then You Swing:

They are two separate movements that should happen very quickly and smoothly but they are separate movements. A common baseball hitting problem is that some baseball hitters have a tendency to do them at the same time.

*Making An Aggressive Motion Toward The Pitcher:

A lot of hitters do not do this but all the great hitters do. That is where the ball is coming from and that’s where you should be going. Real good hitters go into
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the ball to hit it. It’s a common baseball hitting problem to not go toward the pitcher when swinging. The reason it’s such a common problem is because it is simply not natural to move your body toward a baseball that someone is throwing in your direction.

*Having A Tension Free Swing:

“Tension is a hitter’s worst enemy,” is a quote that’s been around for decades and is still one of the best baseball tips on hitting. Tension destroys a fluid, graceful swing that’s necessary for hitting the baseball properly. Don’t squeeze the bat too tightly and don’t tighten up your muscles.

*Head Behind The Swing:

The real good baseball hitters actually see the ball a little longer than the weaker hitters. They literally lower and turn their heads when making contact. You simply cannot keep your head facing the pitcher and look at the baseball out of the corners of your eyes when trying to make contact.

*Hitting To All Fields:

Rarely will you find a baseball hitter with a high batting average who limits himself to hitting the ball to only one part of the field. Pay attention to the old expression, “hit it where it’s pitched.” In the long run, you will be much better off. Avoid the common baseball hitting mistake of letting up on your swing when hitting to the opposite field.

*Hitting Through The Ball:

Hitting through the ball is one of the most important baseball tips on hitting. You should pretend that you are trying to hit three or four baseballs that are tied closely together with a piece of string, instead of hitting only one baseball. This will help you keep the bat in the hitting zone longer and work to your advantage.

By: Larry Cicchiello

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Larry Cicchiello is the author of “Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away.” Baseball coaches, players and baseball parents who want to help your child will benefit. Larry is comfortable sharing some FREE baseball tips on hitting and pitching from his eBooks, which cover 320 baseball topics. www.LarryBaseball.com/product/all

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If you are not one of the stronger hitters, you really should give this a try. By my own admission, it is a little “bizarre” but is definitely worth an attempt. What you should attempt to do is to hit every pitch at the pitcher’s belt buckle. And no, I haven’t lost my mind. There is a good chance that it will improve your batting average and I’ll explain why. Try to do this on every pitch, no matter what type of pitch it is or where the pitch is located.

The big question may be that if this works, why don’t all of the weaker hitters try it. That’s a very fair question and the answer is quite simple. First of all, they can’t try it because they don’t know about it. Another reason is egos, that’s why! Too many baseball hitters want to clobber everything and are in love with the long ball. Not all hitters possess great power and some of them are not willing to face that fact.

I completely enjoy watching a terrific power hitter hit a bomb. But I also thoroughly enjoy a hitter who stays within his limits, does not over swing and just makes decent contact and hits for a high batting average.

Too many baseball hitters would rather hit bombs over the fences or into the gaps. They should really do a reality check. By trying to hit the ball toward the pitcher’s belt buckle, even though you are aiming up the middle, you will also hit to all fields because you won’t always hit the ball straight up the middle. By aiming for the pitcher’s belt buckle, it will force the hitter to watch the pitch carefully and there is a very good chance that his baseball hitting mechanics will improve. It’s identical to why some outstanding professional hitters take batting practice with a smaller bat than they use in a live game. Their reasoning is that with the smaller bat it encourages them to have better baseball hitting mechanics or they may not even hit the ball at all. Please note that I said outstanding professional hitters.

Another added plus is that by aiming for the pitcher’s belt buckle, you will not be trying to “do too much” with your baseball swing. A very common baseball hitting problem is that hitters have way too much going on. It’s referred to as the swing “being too busy.”

A player who is struggling at the plate should at least give this an attempt to get back on the right track. The expression “sometimes less is more” definitely applies here. Hopefully, it will be very helpful to some and they will overcome any baseball hitting struggles.

Larry Cicchiello is the author of “Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away.” His very user friendly eBooks cover 320 topics on playing or coaching excellent baseball. ANY players, coaches or parents who want to help their child improve will be fully equipped! Some FREE tips are available at http://www.LarryBaseball.com/product/all

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Back with more news for you today. It’s amazing how much good information there is on this stuff out there if you know where to look. Three in particular that I found really valuable were…

3 Things to Look For in a Baseball Hitting Coach

There are many guys out there that claim to be baseball hitting coaches. How can you find out who you like and who you might not like? There are three simple steps you can do to find out if you might like a baseball hitting coach or not …

Easton 2009 LV1 V12 Youth Baseball Bat (-12) | Youth Baseball Bat …

Easton¿s O-Zone¿ – Optimal Hitting Zone Technology ¿ slightly thickens the barrel walls at the taper and end cap sections of the barrel to stiffen those regions and increase trampoline and overall barrel performance of maximum hitting …

Learn Baseball Hitting Tips For Coaches And Players & Dominate …

Tulane Hall Of Fame Baseball Coach Reveals Baseball Hitting Secrets For Baseball Instruction. Hundreds Of Players Use.

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

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It’s the offseason for baseball and softball, and it’s time to relax, right?

Wrong!

Now is the time to start preparing for next year, trying to keep yourself in shape and improving your swing.

No matter what position you play on your competitive/bar league team, I believe it becomes more fun the better you get, and everyone could use a better and stronger swing.

There are the usual exercises such as putting a donut on your bat or using two bats, and those are fine, if not good.

But a trick I learned a few years back has helped me immensely, and all you need is a bat and a YMCA membership (or access to a pool).

That’s right: a pool. Take the bat with you into the water and start swinging! The resistance will really help you build those swinging muscles. There are a few things to think about while you’re doing this to make sure you’re not forming bad habits, however: make sure the water is deep enough so you can keep most of your form intact (you don’t want to be swinging around your hips). And make sure to use an old bat that you don’t really care about, as you’ll be underwater for a while.

Swing for as long as you can take it, preferably for about half an hour. Do this a few times a week, and by next season, those muscles will be much stronger.

Stay away from sharks if you’re doing this in the ocean!

Strong Baseball Swing

Build Your Muscles

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Ok so 3 more posts today that I’ve dug up – I’m an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They’re just from a few different sites I’ve been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this…

Baseball Coaching and Training Equipment Blog: Complete Bat Speed …

Complete Bat Speed – A Single Strength Training Exercise to Improve the Baseball Player's Hitting! By Brandon Richey Baseball strength training exercises should focus in on the development of core strength and hip power. …

How to Improve Your Baseball Hitting Simply Thru Practice

Baseball Hitting is no different. For this reason, the best baseball hitting advice anyone can give you is to practice your swing. Mickey Mantle was said to swing the bat at least 100 times a day right handed and then do the same left …

Baseball Hitting Drills – Grip Correction and Pulling Their Head …

Here are a couple of baseball hitting drills which work well with your youth teams. Use these baseball drills and you'll be amazed how quickly your players will improve their hitting skills.

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

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